Health Care

— Jan 16, 2024
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The Role of Private Hospitals in Australia’s Universal Health Care System

The Role of Private Hospitals in Australia’s Universal Health Care System is a new study that finds Australia spends slightly less than Canada on its universal health care, but routinely outperforms Canada on key health indicators. It also delivers universal health-care differently by including a large role for private hospitals, with 41 per cent of all hospital care being delivered in private hospitals in 2021/22.

— Dec 7, 2023
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Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2023 Report

Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2023 is an annual survey of physicians across Canada, finding a median wait time of 27.7 weeks—the longest ever recorded—with national wait times longest between a referral by a GP and plastic, orthopaedic, and neurosurgery, while shortest for radiation and medical oncology treatments.

— Nov 16, 2023
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Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2023

Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2023 is a new study that compares 30 universal health-care systems in developed countries, finding that Canada has fewer doctors, hospital beds, MRIs, and longer wait times than comparable countries—despite ranking in the top third for spending.

— Oct 10, 2023
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Mental Health Care: How is Canada Doing?

Mental Health Care: How is Canada Doing? compares Canada’s mental health services to other countries with universally accessible health care and finds that, despite the Canadian government spending a larger share of health dollars on mental health services, Canada has relatively fewer psychiatric care beds (ranking 22nd out of 28 nations), psychiatrists (ranking 16th out of 28 nations), and psychologists (ranking 15th out of 26 nations) in addition to growing wait times.

— Sep 26, 2023
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Lessons from the Public-Private Partnerships in Surgical Care in Quebec

Lessons from the Public Private Partnerships in Surgical Care in Quebec finds that private surgical clinics play an increasingly large role in Quebec’s universal health care system, following a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that allows private surgical clinics to perform select surgeries covered by the Quebec health-care system. In fact, private surgical clinics now perform 1-in-6 government-funded day surgeries in the province.

— Jul 27, 2023
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The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2023

The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2023 is a new study that finds the typical Canadian family (two parents and two children) with an average household income of $169,296 will pay $16,950 for public health care this year. In fact, the cost of public health care insurance for the average Canadian family increased 4.2 times as fast as the cost of clothing, 2.1 times as fast as the cost of food, 1.8 times as fast as the cost of shelter, and 1.7 times as fast as the average income.

— May 9, 2023
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The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2023

The Private Cost of Public Queues for Medically Necessary Care, 2023 is a new study that finds an estimated 1.2 million Canadian patients waited for medically necessary treatment last year, and each lost an estimated $2,925 (on average) due to lost wages and reduced productivity during working hours. Put differently, long waits for surgery and medical treatment cost Canadians almost $3.6 billion in lost wages and productivity last year.

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